The Matveyevs' Mansion

69 Molodogvardeyskaya street

Architect Dmitry Werner
Built in 1912

Architect Dmitry Werner worked as a city architect of Samara for four years. In addition to his duties, he carried out private orders, outside of Samara including. Business relations connected him, for example, with Buzuluk (now the Orenburg region). In 1912, Werner designed in Samara in Sobornaya street (Molodogvardeyskaya now) the mansion for the Buzuluk brothers Peter and Ivan Matveyev.

The three-storey house is built in the spirit of the Belgian Art Nouveau. And with Europe it is connected not only by stylistic similarity but also by planning. Behind a narrow, four-windowed facade there is a long building that extends deep into the quarter.

The asymmetrical facade is divided into two parts. On the third floor of the central block there is a wide three-part window with a modern style splash. The wrought-iron fencing of the balcony with laurel wreaths characteristic of the European Art Nouveau was made according to Werner's sketch. In the castle stone above the door there is a molded image of a winged wheel, a symbol of the patron of roads and trade Mercury, and on the attic there is a monogram of the masters of the Matveyev brothers' house, framed by flowers, «Br. M.».

The mansion is decorated with ceramic tiles of two colours: «kabanchik» of greenish hue and a marsh-marsh belt of swamp between the third-floor window and the eaves. The decoration of the facade with ceramics is Werner's favorite, and the colour scheme of the Matveyevs' mansion is chosen in such a way as to be matched with the neighboring Schetinkin's Trade House.